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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31008	Preparatory-grace in conversion briefly stated and examined / by Thomas Barnes.	Barnes, Thomas.	1699 (1699)	Wing B873; ESTC R25265	8,796	26

will be Doctrinal and Defensative And two things I shall be concerned in wherein there will be a Closer attendance to the point One is this Doth not this vacate Mens endeavours Answ No one instructed in the Mystery of Christ will say so The truth is all our mischief arises either from some Mens making nature to do all without Christ or so making Christ to do all as leaving no personal duty to us Three ways they here take some assert that all our Conversion is wrought by universal Grace as Arminius against Corvinus Others say that as Faith is not in our power so neither doth God require it of us nor is it on our parts particularly necessary to Salvation that Christ has believed for us and is himself instead of all To this purpose writ Saltmarsh Den Swinkfield and the German Antinomians Now these are two gross extreams and vile Abominations are they both there are a third sort who say tho' Faith and Holiness are required of us and altho' we cannot work them in our selves yet every Man can do something in order to them They tell you that albeit Faith or the Act of coming to Christ be not in our power yet still something may be done in order to it by way of Preparation and when these Preparations are searcht into they are the fruits of Mens natural Abilities tho' the main stroak of Conversion be not so As to my self I am shie of extolling the powers of Nature what mighty things Men can do They who find such Methods in Divinity most adapted to work savingly on the Souls of Men may follow their own Wisdom It discourages me so long as Scripture says expresly the natural Man in spiritual things can do just nothing I say use all means diligently Pray Read Study let his portion be shame amongst the Tribe of Levi that abates your Diligence Yet know without Christ in the use of means you are Dead Dying damning Miscreants No body contends against this that there are quoedam naturoe Dotes often materially good things in Men and materially good things done by them yet 't is unsavory to call these the Connections or infallible Preparations to Grace Dr. Owen of the Spirit Book 3. ch 2. For as a great Man in the Gospel says well they are no more Preparations than the driness of Wood is a preparation for Fire We all know that dry Wood is readier for Fire than Wood which is wet so you who conscientiously attend the means of Grace are in a more hopeful way than such as do despise them but still the driness of the Wood partakes not of the nature of Fire and it may lie until it rot before it will take fire of its self for all its driness The distinction therefore which the said venerable Author uses in compliance with the Synod of Dort is not denied by me Doven Determ Quast Qu. 9. V. Et Testardum Synops de Nat. Grat. Prop. 7. provided it be taken with the Analogy of what a Prelate of the Church of England who was a Member of that Synod asserts and elsewhere explains himself in Dr. Owen a Divine sooner envied than imitated lays down a clear difference betwixt material Dispositions such as Illumination and Historical Information as Eusebius writ a Book of Evangelical Preparation and formal Preparation which are the works of the Spirit not the incertain Velitations of Mens Wills always issuing in a saving Faith And to this sense speak the reformed in Poland V. Ashwell de Socino Socinianismo Dis §. 31. §. 70. The Socinians there opposing the Divine Worship of Christ occasioned a debate touching sufficient and effectual Grace wherein I have with a particular Curiosity seen a Manuscript in Sion College containing some imperfect Account of the Synod of Pinkzove where it is not impossible for me to produce their suffrages to this effect that sometimes Men are converted without discernible preparative Workings and to the best of my understanding the French Jesuists in Monsieur St. Amour's Journal in that Article of the Quinquarticular points are at one with them So that you see most parties feel a tenderness in this place and that the Doctrine of Preparations had need be warily received I know the Scripture mentions some Converts who were wrought upon by a long train of Convictions and what I affirm is this That where these Convictions are saving DeCorrept Grat. cap. 15. they are the Effects of Faith and Preparations for it Readily for this Reason I concur with Augustin because we know not who belong to Election we are to wish well to all But that these Preparations are not specifically distinct from special Grace Lib. 6. de legib is Doctrine more becoming what Plato teaches than what we read in Scripture-Reconds where the Lord opened the heart of Lydia in an instant without any preliminary probation that we know of Take but the instance of Mr. Elliat Pag. 101. which Mr. Cotton Mather gives in his life when he preached his first Sermon to the Pagan Indians they told Mr. Elliat they understood all that he had Preach'd becoming serious Proselites to Christ and as appears in the Sequel making Profession of their Faith I would only put the Question now Where were these Mens Preparations Ah Brethren distrest Souls will bless God there is so near a way to relief as going to Christ when others who have nothing else to do will trifle with it The other Exception is this This lays all at Christ's Door and not at the Door of Man's will till I know who will own this Exception I shall not inlarge upon what Paul speaks Rom. 9.16 So then it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth Mercy A troubled person will go to Prayer but it is not the Prayer but the flight of his Soul to Christ in Prayer that gives him ease Yes the direct acts of Faith secure the Souls of Men. Obj. But still I 'm afraid there is a Latent Antinomianism in this Ans Deus avertat Omen Jealousies are the ruin of Friendship If I should tell you that there is a Latent Arminianism in your Objection and that this way of driving on Duties without Christ's company is but a dead way as appears in the cold hearts and sapless profession of your Party you would say I wanted Charity and we should have nothing but a squabble of it It is but a Trite Calumny cast in the way of the Orthodox and a slur upon the order of the Gospel as if it precluded Mens endeavours Of truth nothing comes but truth when lyes and base designs need shifts and endless Cavils Obj. You are too Rigid wise Men take middle Courses Ans Ay certainly he who has to do with wise Men had need be wary But the best on 't is there is no mean betwixt Truth and Error I never thought Calvin as infallible a Divine as Paul and yet I